Church Logo

Hi guys, Id welcome some feedback on a logo Ive been working on for a local church. To give you some background, the church has undergone a recent rennovation and is due to move back in to their new home in the next few weeks. The old logo used a silhoutte of the old building but as that doesnt exist any more they asked me to do a simple rebrand. Their brief was to produce something modern, but that could appeal to all ages. They also were eager to introduce the theme of growth to the logo as it forms part of their mission statement, and the church is currently growing both in size of building and numbers of people. They wanted it to look friendly, approachable and to avoid any obvious religious symbolism such as crosses or stained glass windows.

Ive produced the idea below based on this brief. The abstract shape is loosely based on a leaf, with the green gradient used as a reference to the theme of growth. The b is purposefully round and unobtrusive in an effort to look friendly and approachable. The heading underneath uses an unusual font in an effort to give it some character and help it be memorable. The subtext beneath that again uses a modern, rounded, friendly font.

I really like the font used for the 'b' in the leaf shape but sadly the rest of the chatacters in that typeface arent as visually appealing so Ive had to use Raleway as an alternative for the subheading.

The logo will be used on stationery, branding, promotional materials, TV screens, the website and on powerpoint slides. There is also a good chance it will be used on printed items that are photocopied in black and white.

Attached Files:

Thanks for the feedback David, and thanks for the link, ill check that out.

As for the font choice, I have a wide range of modern sans serif fonts such as Akzidenz, Museo, Myriad, Phinster etc but I felt that when I used one of those the branding lost some of its character, it all looks very 'samey' to what is already out there.

I liked the font used, (called Banksia) because it was a bit different and stood out from the crowd. However, it wasnt my intentiion to look scruffy/wacky and I can see your point. Im also a little unconfortable about using 3 different typefaces in one logo, but I cant find a solution to get around this. I dont want to change the 'b' so maybe the heading and subhead should be in the same font?

I liked the font used, (called Banksia) because it was a bit different and stood out from the crowd. However, it wasnt my intentiion to look scruffy/wacky and I can see your point. Im also a little unconfortable about using 3 different typefaces in one logo, but I cant find a solution to get around this. I dont want to change the 'b' so maybe the heading and subhead should be in the same font?

Click to expand...

Would you see it as using three different fonts though, or would the 'b' be seen more as a picture? As in, when I look at the the 'b' I don't think of it as being a font as such, more just as an icon and the whole package of it combined with the green square.

So from that perspective, I'd only see there as being two fonts. Though I also don't think the font works too well for the main heading either, there's something about it that just feels a little clunky to me.

Yeah fair point guys. Logo designing is not really my strongest skill, most of my work is either illustrative or for print so when it comes to designing something that only contains a few elements I often struggle to get happy with it.
Im currently working on some alternative font choices for the heading, so ill repost soon with some options for feedback.

Here are a few logo revisions. Number 1 sticks with the same logo mark but uses Harabara Bold for the main church name. 1a again uses Harabara bold but also has changed the 'b' within the leaf to match this new font. Number 2 shows an option with the headline in Emblem regular and number 3 shows a final option using Avenir Std for the headline and Avenir light for the subhead.

thanks for that levi, thats useful to know. I wasnt aware of the Dr Dre logo, although maybe that ridiculous HP advert has subliminally ingrained on my mind because that logo is very similar to mine above, which is purely coincidentally but worrying!

That would support the idea shown in 1a. to use a different 'b' which may be more unique. Shame though, I really liked the roundness of the original b' but i agree with you, Dr Dre is probably not the look the church is going for!

The B does remind me of Dr Dre's Beats. Don't think you should necessarily change it because of that though. Your B does look a tad vertically stretched.

I like the concept of the leaf, so I was thinking you could give the rounded square a more natural shape. Just keep it loosely based on a leaf shape like you said, but right now I feel it's too geometric.

Thanks Kevin, you make some good points there. I haven't stretched the b, but I have extended the vertical stroke so it breaks out of the leaf. I'll try giving the leaf a more natural shape and see how it looks. I'm not sure if that would make it look too leaf like though, afterall it's still a church, not a garden centre, so I was trying to keep the reference subtle rather than obvious. But I an grateful for your feedback so I'll try it and see how it looks!

I like the 2nd and 3rd versions. It might be a bit too gimicky but try especially on the 3rd version to take the curve off the 't' in 'bethel' and it'll be a straight cross. It'll just reinforce the idea that it's for the church. Give it a go and see what you think

Hi guys, its been a long time since I updated this thread but the project is now back on (it was put on the backburner for a while after I wasnt comfortable with the similarities between my work and the Dr Beats logo, I also had a wedding to organise, a house to move into and all that jazz so Ive been a busy boy)

Im finally back on this project and the brief hasnt really changed. Im aiming to design a logo that is modern, contemporary and doesnt include any religious symbolism or icons.

The leafy green colour is used by the church a lot so it makes sense to stick with green so they dont have to change their existing printed media. I also quite like the green as its fresh and doesnt give off any negative connotations like red/blue/black may do.

Im a huge fan of negative space and Ive tried really hard to make something work with the B and the C of the logo's title (Bethel Church) but I havent had much success.

Ive posted a few ideas attached, but this is my first day back on the project after almost a year so Im just getting my head back into it now, any help, advice, suggestions would be brilliant.

Cai, could you expand a little? Where are you suggesting a line and for what reason?

Lee, after such a long time away from the project I was avoiding any old sketches so I could start afresh, as yet I actually havent got much sketched down, Im just having a play around on screen with some quick ideas.

Ill bullet point below my brief aims so you can get an idea what Im aiming for...

- Name of the church is Bethel Church, so playing with the initials as well as the title 'Bethel' with a secondary subtitle of 'church'

- Logo needs to be modern, contemporary, fresh.

- No religious symbolism.

- Aimed at all ages from young families/students right up to elderly.

- Aims to use green (house colour of the church) also ties in with idea of a growing church, fresh, welcoming, new start.

- Needs to be friendly, approachable, reliable

The church is a modern, vibrant church based in a brand new building which looks more like a conference centre than a church. It is open 7 days a week and as well as the usual Sunday services there are activties throughout the week for babies, toddlers, children, teenagers, students, adults and pensioners. There is also a church football team, exercise club, book club, monthly restaurant meet ups for the retired, Saturday morning breakfasts for the community etc. Basically it is a busy centre for the community as well as a modern, contemporary church and the logo needs to reflect this.